One type of connector includes a housing with the familiar RJ-45 telephone style latch. This type of connector is used for both electrical connectors (wherein electrically conductive contacts engage one another) and optic fiber connectors (wherein modulated light is passed from one optic fiber to another one). The connector housing is formed of molded plastic with a housing body having a passage that holds a contact or optic fiber terminus. The housing also forms a latch with a front end that merges with the housing body, a middle that forms a pair of latch shoulders, and a rear that forms a handle. When the housing is inserted forwardly into a terminus coupling or the coupling formed by a mating electrical connector, that is designed for such a connector, the latch is automatically depressed until the latch shoulders move behind coupling shoulders, the latch then springing up so the latch shoulders lie directly forward of the coupling shoulders. The connector then cannot be removed unless the handle is depressed to depress the latch shoulders so they are not in line with the coupling shoulders.
While the above type of connector is in very wide use, its use has revealed a fundamental weakness that precludes it from being used in harsher environments where it might be subjected to elevated temperatures and vibration. In the case of an optic fiber connector, the optic fiber terminus lying in the connector housing, is spring biased rearwardly with a considerable force. Such bias assures that the tips of optic fibers will firmly abut one another to assure that light passes from optic fiber to the other. The same spring force tends to cause the connector to spontaneously disengage from the terminus coupling under an environment of elevated temperature and vibration. The failure results from stress relaxation. Electrical connectors also can spontaneously disengage in such an environment. A small added device that prevented such spontaneous disengagement of the connector, would enable such very popular small connectors to be used in many more applications.
Any device that prevented spontaneous disengagement of the above described popular connectors, should project minimally from the space occupied by present connectors. In some applications, a plurality of the above types of connectors are closely spaced apart and any added device should not interfere with insertion and removal of each connector individually.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a secondary latch is provided that mounts on the body of a small connector of a type that has a latch of the telephone type, and that prevents inadvertent release of the primary latch, wherein the secondary latch extends only a very small distance laterally beyond the profile of a connector without such secondary latch. The secondary latch has a sleeve that slides between forward and rearward positions around the housing body. The secondary latch also has a wedge part that substantially wedges between the latch handle and the top of the housing body. The wedge part prevents inadvertent downward movement of the primary latch.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.